Rituals occupy such a key place in rakı culture that talking about the rituals at the rakı table has become a ritual itself – discussing the proper way to savor it, meticulously pouring the right amounts of rakı and water, playfully mocking a companion for doing it all wrong, and at times, when the offense is too serious to be ignored, scalding the wrongdoer for not abiding by what the traditionalists called âdâb-ı işret, drinking etiquette.

Although rakı does not exist in a cultural or social vacuum, it still has a world of its own where vessels, norms, ethos, beliefs, myths, and much more gravitate around this fascinating drink. In this chapter of our journey, we delve into the elegant world of rakı accouterments. Click for more.

What gives rakı its unmistakable aroma, smooth taste, and cloudy white color is anise. Not just any anise though; Pimpinella anisum, a flowering plant in the family Apiacea (commonly known as the celery, carrot, or parsley family, or as umbellifers) and also known as green anise or simply as anise, is the only kind used in rakı distillation. Star anise, a fruit harvested from the Asian evergreen treen (illicium verum) is a different species. However, some Mediterranean anise-flavored alcohol producers have recently started using the Southeast Asian spice as it is considerably cheaper to produce.

With its distinguishable cloudy white color, anise taste, and distinct aroma, rakı has been part and parcel of Istanbul’s culinary culture for centuries. Variants of rakı, made of twice-distilled grapes and flavored with aniseed, are enjoyed in countries all across the Mediterranean. However, as many an aficionado will waste no time reminding you, rakı is much more than a drink: it is an irrefutable feature of social and cultural life, a building block of local identity, a catalyst for socialization, a symbol of camaraderie, and so much more. And in our journey to the heart of this drink that is much more than a drink, we must first turn our attention to 9th- century Mesopotamia.